Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Few would have expected a wordless physical comedy show from a Polish clown to be the underground hit of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but here we are. The back room of a relatively out-of-the way venue is rammed with comedy folk wanting to enter the world of Furiozo, a bare-chested, testosterone- and coke-fuelled thug. 

Piotr Sikora’s grunting, snarling alter-ego taps into the rise of the alpha-male subculture of MMA, Tyson Fury and Jake Paul, yet acts out the toxicity with underlying tenderness. Soon after we meet him, he’s Wrestling a bear. But it’s a teddy. He flashes his mimed gun but does dumb tricks with it to entertain us.

Sikora might bring a scarily intense energy to the room, especially when he’s prowling the audience seeking targets, but it’s quickly dissipated – tapping into the primal origins of laughter as a signal that danger has passed. 

However it’s not long before Furiozo goes off the rails, beginning a thrilling story of shootouts, car chases, jailbreaks and sex, cinematic in scope, punkish in execution. 

Audience members are roped in to tell the story, but however terrifying Furiozo is, Sikora is a generous performer who ensures all who help are having fun and are celebrated for doing so. He unknowingly selected a comic to play his police pursuer, and Jenny Tian proved ideal: initially demure and uncertain before throwing herself into the violent task of ensuring Furiozo went down for his crimes.

And while some clowns delight in the ambiguity of their mimes to confuse their ‘volunteers’, and often the audience as well, Sikora’s story has a clarity that makes the narrative all the more compelling without losing any of the spontaneity of audience involvement. He gets Consent from all concerned, and, perhaps surprisingly, that message even becomes part of the storyline.

Furiozo’s story of crime, consequences, and thwarted hopes of contentment is an intense, unpredictable ride that ends with a tragic moral about the cyclical nature of human behaviour. Yet it’s also hilarious and surprising, binding the audience to the action.

Sikora brilliantly walks the line between hot-headed aggression and a sense of inclusive, spontaneous fun. This is the best game of cops and robbers you’ll ever be involved in.

• Furiozo: Man Looking for Trouble has ended his run in Melbourne. But he heads to the Soho Theatre in London on April 26 and 27 and will be at Underbelly Cowgate during the Edinburgh Fringe.

Review date: 9 Apr 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett